How to Book Your First Gig

Nowadays, it seems like everyone and their mother is releasing music.

Modern technology and groundbreaking companies have made it possible for musicians to record, produce, distribute, and earn from their new original music without needing to leave their home. In fact, in 2020, independent labels and artists made up 31.5% of the recorded music market share. That requires a lot of independent artists to release high quality, commercially successful tracks - which is truly incredible, but if you are one of the multitude trying to make yourself heard, releasing digital music alone is no longer enough to make yourself stand out.

But here’s the thing: not every artist who puts out great recorded music can play a great live show.

This is where you can shake off the noise - this is where you can distinguish yourself as a star. Okay, so how do I get on stage?

It may sound cheesy, but you’ve gotta believe in yourself - and others will follow.

Booking your first gig can feel daunting, sometimes even more so than actually performing. It’s a part of marketing yourself as an artist, which can feel uncomfortable, but if you believe in your music and your artistry, then you can rest assured that you are marketing something of value. Keep this in mind throughout the process. Your confidence will catch more attention than apprehension, and if you get some rejections (which every single artist does), maintaining confidence in your art will keep you moving forward.

That being said…try to be realistic.

Before you start reaching out to venues, take time to consider where you are at in your career as an artist. This can save you a lot of time, by narrowing down the number of venues to contact. It’s also important to remember that, even once you’ve booked the gig, it may be up to you to bring in an audience, so it’s best to play in rooms that you can fill. Some questions to ask yourself: What size is my following? Do I have fans who would come to see me play? If so, how many and where are they?

Use trac’s data analytics to find your audience, so you can bring your music to them, instead of trying to get them to come to you.

If you’re a brand new artist, and your listenership is still on the modest side, it’s probably not time to book an entire tour. But, if you notice that a high percentage of your listeners are located in a city not unreasonable far from you, and you have the means to travel, you may have a better chance of bringing in an enthusiastic audience by playing at venues where they already live.

If you’ve released music and are receiving 50k+ listeners, it may be worth touring. Use the data that you collect to locate your listeners. Target those cities where your listenership is high when seeking out venues. If you can include the data in your pitch, you may be more likely to book the gig.

So you’ve narrowed down your venue search by location and venue size. Now it’s time to consider the music itself.

If you’re an EDM artist, you don’t want to waste time reaching out to jazz clubs or hipster honky tonk bars. And if you’re a singer-songwriter with a ukulele, it’s probably not going to be very rewarding for you to play at a noisy bar that usually books rock bands. Considering where you and your music will feel most at home, be heard, and reach an audience that wants to listen, will save you time and energy, and uplift you as a live performer.

Okay, that’s probably enough filtering. You’ve got a solid and reasonably-sized list of venues where you can be heard by an audience that will connect with you.

Now it’s time to get in touch.

Most live music venues will have a booking contact listed on their website. If you have no personal connections to the venue that may help to get your music into the right hands (as they say), then this is where you’ll make your pitch. It’s important that your email contains all of your artist information, DSP links, artist social media accounts, and technical requirements (what sort of sound set up you will need to perform), so that the venue doesn’t have to go back and forth with you to make a decision.

Make an EPK

I suggest creating an electronic press kit that pertains specifically to live performance, which you can send as a part of a standardized email to every venue on your contact list. This press kit should include:

• Contact information

• An artist bio

  • Your bio should be concise, exciting, clear, and may include:

  • Artist name

  • Artist age

  • Where the artist is based/where they are from

• Quotes from reviews of the artist’s music releases

• Details about a recent / upcoming release

• Further narrative that builds the artist persona

• Images of the artist

  • These should appear professional (even if you had a friend take them on your phone), stylized, and aligned with your artist persona

• Any high quality videos you may have where you are playing your music live

• Links to listen to you

• Links to your social media

• Live experience, if any

Tip: If you have not played live at any public venues yet, a great way to showcase your skills and create community with your fans is to host a small concert at home. Invite a few friends over, decorate your “stage” to represent who you are as an artist, play your set (unplugged and acoustic or with your own sound equipment), and have a friend film it.

Once you’ve created a strong and concise electronic press kit, collect the contact information from each of the venues that you’ve selected, and send it off! I suggest including a small, personalized thank you note to the venue for their time, but keep it professional!

I’ve booked the gig! Now what?

Once you’ve booked your first gig, you’ll want to make sure your fans know about it. A few ways to get the message out are:

Create a Facebook event that includes

• Your artist image

• Time and date of event

• Location

• Artist bio

• Links to your website/socials

• Tag the venue if possible

Once you’ve created the event, invite everybody!

Post on Instagram

• Keep the imagery consistent with your Facebook event and any promo materials sent to the venue itself

• Post several times leading up to the event

• Tag the venue if possible

Flyers

If you live near the venue, posting flyers near the date of the event can bring in locals and visitors. Yay new fans!

Email list

If you’ve created a mailing list (which I highly recommend), make sure to send an invite to everyone on it. They’ll want to know, and to be invited directly by the artist can create a stronger sense of connection for them.

A few more things to keep in mind:

• Consider having someone film the gig. This can be great marketing material, can help you book further gigs, and it’s just fun to look back on these exciting moments!

• Some venues require that you pay a fee if you are filming, so make sure you read their requirements closely.

• Some venues offer to record the audio of the performance with their equipment. This gig could become your first live album!

• Your first gig is a huge milestone for your artist career, but it’s important to remember that this is only the first gig. Have fun with it.

You got into music because you love it, and playing your original songs live can be one of the most rewarding experiences as an artist - so let yourself enjoy it, and don’t get too hung up on perfection. Congrats on taking this exciting step!